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Karl is a former small business owner from the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario. He has been serving on staff at NorthWind since 2020, but, prior to that, he was a board member since its inception. He holds a Bachelor of Theology degree and has many years of experience in various church leadership positions, including seven years as a youth pastor.

He has been volunteering alongside Canada’s Aboriginal peoples for approximately thirty years. As a result, he has become passionate about sharing the history of colonialism and the residential schools with other Canadians to help them better understand the root of the continuing suffering among Indigenous people. He is optimistic about the difference an organization like NorthWind can make when like-minded people strive together to bring about change.

Karl and his wife, Janet, live in St. Catharines, Ontario, have two married children and enjoy spending time with their two grandsons.

Jeremy grew up enjoying the St John River Valley in rural New Brunswick. As a born farmer, he developed a love for plants of all kinds while working in the family based business known as Jolly Farmer. There he learned lots about the processes of developing healthy roots on young unrooted cuttings.

This growing process prepared him for a major turn of events when in the early summer of 2019 he left the business through a call from God. He moved across the country to relocate in Thunder Bay where he felt God calling him to work with a new church plant in the city. He had been to the city in earlier years and certain situations moved him to learn more about the struggles of the Indigenous people; he felt a strong tug to be involved. It was not long before he became a part-time employee of NorthWind Family Ministries.

Today he hopes to grow something new! If not plants, which he still loves, he hopes that with God’s help he can journey with people as they grow.

He loves the people, the bush, the lakes and the sunsets and sunrises of Thunder Bay. As he met his wife here in the city, he expects that at least for a good while…he’s around to stay!!

Bera grew up in a tribal culture in Fiji. He served as an employee with the Fijian government for six years prior to resigning in 1979 to do volunteer religious work. He served as a grade seven to eleven religious-education teacher for a couple of years and worked as a Youth Leader for a Methodist Church circuit, which included twelve churches, prior to his military service. He completed three six-month tours with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, where he served as an associate lay pastor with B Company in addition to his infantry military duties.  He helped soldiers in their spiritual walk, had weekly Bible studies and visited soldiers at the Regimental Aid Post. Bera trained and served with several ministries, including three boat/yacht ministries. These include: CEF, World Open Air Campaigners, Every Home Crusade, the Bible Society of the South Pacific, Campus Crusade for Christ, Dayspring Ministries, Haggi Boat Ministries, Christian Small Boat Ministries, YWAM, and Overseas Mission.

Bera came to Canada in 1988 to work as a missionary among Canada’s Indigenous People. He served in a remote village in British Columbia and then worked in northern Alberta to establish a ministry centre which involved many Reserves. Bera and his wife, Bonita, established the Eagles’ Cove Ministry Centre outside of Thunder Bay and eventually founded NorthWind Family Ministries. Bera loves people and enjoys coffee time or engaging in healthy sports activities, such as boxing. He is a natural-born evangelist, and he brings both passion and compassion to any ministry endeavor.

One of Bera’s hobbies is to play match maker in prayer. He says he has seen 30 couples from his list make solid, Godly marriages. He likes praying for young people and asks God to guide their lives. As a loving parent of four adult children, he cares about young people and their future spouses.